Wet heath

Found on peaty mineral soils or thin peats that are waterlogged for at least part of the year, wet heath usually looks very different from dry heath – ironically because it often appears less ‘heathery’.

cross-leaved heath

You will often see common heather on wet heaths, however, along with cross-leaved heath, purple moor-grass, deer grass and, on wetter sites, bog mosses (Sphagnum).

Wet heath is not as extensive as dry heath, with only 3,600 hectares recorded in lowland Wales.

Another form of heath, called humid heath, occurs in western Wales thanks to the warm, moist climate. Although in fact usually considered a type of dry heath, in Wales humid heath often resembles wet heath and the two can be difficult to tell apart. The principal difference is that there tends to be more western gorse and purple moor-grass in humid heath, and more deer grass and bog mosses in wet heath.

The majority of wet and humid heath is found in the Swansea area on the Gower Commons, as shown by the diagram below. Wet and humid heathlands are also found on the inland Pembrokeshire commons. Much of the wet and humid heath on the Gower and in Pembrokeshire is owned by the National Trust and subject to open access regulations.

wet heath distribution